Helen of Troy
by Vanished-2
Summary: Helen and Penelope are attacked by Theseus King of Athens and his men. What he does to her makes Helen think about her childhood. This is her story. R rated HelenParis PenelopeOdysseus HelenMenelaus PLs REVIEW
1. Attack by King Theseus

I grabbed hold of my little wooden horse. It was beautiful, but then only the best for the prettiest girl in the world. I hated thinking about myself like that, even though it was and still is true. I remember stroking the little horses neck and running my finger up its imaginary mane. I loved horses; even at the age of ten I was already riding them like a professional. I had a few myself which I used to ride everyday. I was a spoilt little girl. My cousin Penelope envied me, but we were still great friends. We used to ride in the fields together, naked on the backs of the brown silky horses.

Penelope is a pretty girl too. She never looked much older than ten until she reached the age of thirteen and even then she was an innocent little girl with a round face. I however, matured with each passing summer. My hair grew longer each year and as I grew up I had many lovers. But I could never really love someone ever again. Not after what happened when I was ten years old. It was horrible.

"Come play with the horses Helen." Asked my cousin Penelope. I nodded but continued to pick flowers and put them in my golden locks.

"Helen! You're doing it again!" Penelope whined. I looked at her, my head on a tilt.

"Doing what?" I asked innocently.

"You know, saying you'll do something when you won't." Penelope replied, smiling as she approached me. "Come on. Please play with the horses. I don't want to go up there alone."

I nodded and this time I did go with her. I loved the horses but I also loved picking flowers.

Penelope took my hand and lead my up the path to the wooden stables where we kept Sunstar and Moonlie, our horses. Sunstar was a little horse, perfect for Penelope. She had a perfect black mane and a white diamond shape on her head. Moonlie however was a chocolate brown which blended into a soft mahogany. I loved to ride her because she was a nice horse who enjoyed my company as I enjoyed hers.

We took them out of their stables started to stoke them and get them used to the midday sun. Suddenly I heard a noise, a horn as if it were trying to warn us of something. My heart lept as I spun my head around. The horn was coming from the beach, it was loud, warning the whole city. From the hill I could see the beach. It was filled with boats.

"Oh god." I whispered. I turned to face Penelope. "We are under attack." Penelope went white.

"Who is it?" she asked me as we watched the beach from our grassy hill. I saw the flags and the head of the boat.

"It's Theseus!" I said, "King of Athens!" From the beach a few heads turned and caught my eye.

"Oh woe, they've seen us. Run Penelope run!" She quickly got atop her horse and turned it to the west.

"Hurry Sunstar," she whispered as she patted the horse's head. I mounted Moonlie and started to gallop beside Penelope.

"Quickly," I cried to her as the wind hit my face. "They are coming up the hill to us!" We rode and rode across the grass, Sunstar and Moonlie cantering underneath us.

"We are we headed for?" Cried my cousin, as she, just a good a rider, galloped next to me.

"The palace," I said, an impulse decision. "Make for the palace."

We rode towards the mighty gates but before we could reach them we stopped.

"Oh no." I said. The palace gates were crowded with Athenians. And now they had seen us.

"Turn, quickly!" said to Penelope and as I spun round I almost fainted. Men had surrounded us. One of which was King Theseus, I knew him by his feathered helmet.

"Pretty ladies." He said. "What are you doing here in such a time of fright? Surely such women should be inside the palace walls." He chuckled. "Unless of course you have valiantly rode out here to meet us and fight?" He smiled to his friends.

"We have done no such thing!" said Penelope. "We are going to the palace now, if you don't mind." She spoke stubbornly. But how could a king such as Theseus, the hero who killed the Minator, be afraid of a ten year old girl with a round face? I however knew that I looked almost fourteen by now. I spoke politely yet surprisingly confident.

"Please King Theseus. Remove your men from around us. We seek the palace, not your company." Theseus laughed.

"Ah Helen! There you are you pretty thing. For this attack is long of you. Come down from your horse, meet me and my men." I looked around cautiously.

"I'd rather not," I replied. Theseus smiled and nodded to his men. Grabbing my arms the pulled me from my horse. They were tall strong men. Perfect warriors, perfectly horrid too.

"Let her go!" Squealed Penelope from Sunstar. Then men looked at her and removed her from her horse too. They let Sunstar and Moonlie gallop off. I stood in between them, circled by a bunch of fierce looking men. I was frightened and I knew that if I didn't leave now I might not be able to leave at all.

"Let us go. Please." I asked him.

Theseus shook his head and instead he began to remove his clothing.


	2. The dawn of Winter

Penelope went white. I remember how all words left her as Theseus removed his golden lined chest plate. What a thing to do, she was thinking. Confusion clouded her innocent mind. I however, being already quite a miniature expert on love, knew exactly what he was going to do to me.

Sometimes you imagine yourself in that type of situation, where you have a choice of what to do. Ideas where flying around in my head but none of them looked reliable. Theseus was going to rape me and there was little I could do about it.

I remember worrying about Penelope. I am pleased that I was perfectly unselfish, but that really should have been a moment when I concentrated on my own escape, rather than my cousin's comfort. I knew that they wouldn't touch Penelope in the same way that they all intended to touch me.

Or maybe it wasn't all of them. Maybe I was a king's prize. Sometimes I even think of myself as a possession. I remember almost giving up as three soldiers held me tightly, thinking to myself how many intended to take me, or if it was just Theseus. I wonder if he'd want the others to touch me.

I didn't want to see Theseus with his clothes removed, the thought repulsed me as did all men I hate. It is such a shame that such a beauty, as the body should be stained with some men's, most men's, sins. I at the age of ten had already learnt to enjoy what Prometheus had given us.

I don't remember shaking as such. I remember breathing deeply but not rapidly. I was frightened but I told myself that hopefully it would all be over in a matter of minutes. Then maybe I would be able to keep my life. That is if Theseus didn't want to take me with him, for surely if he did my life would end.

Oh woe, for bestowing a face of knowing on a maiden's body, I curse such Gods. Why should it be me that is the attraction of the people to Greece, not rather the golden palace halls, or mighty temples that stand to commemorate our precious Gods, who bestow on us the gift of life?

If I prayed any harder to Athena for a happy thought, or to Apollo for an escape without bloodshed then I may not be living, and will have suffered torment of a King for nothing.

Theseus was naked. I tried hard not to look at him, but as hard as I tried, it was harder not to look than to look. If I could say how scared I was, then truly I was not as scared as I was that moment.

I kicked and squealed as my own virgin white robe was removed from my fair shoulders. All in vain alas, as I was thrown upon the ground like so many scattered soldiers, but then I was climbed upon by a man I could not possibly compete with.

I screamed once more as I was taken, it was all in a moment of fear and I remember it like it was last summer. How everything seemed to flow before my eyes in black and white for truly no sound could accompany that terrifying scene.

I felt him, like the colours, flow within me and I tried to imagine it wasn't there, but like a raging fire it burned my insides.

I don't remember crying, but afterwards my face was wet with tears, as was Penelope's. She had tried hard to rescue me from a fate that she, like many other women, considered worse than death. I however, would rather keep my life. It is an upsetting thought that whilst such beauty could enrich a world, such evil could devour it, and I was now a stained beauty, not pure as so many other men had seen me.

When I opened my eyes from their tight closure, I noticed that he was already clothed. My eyes flickered, so many men were looking at me but I stayed on the floor like the mud that seemed to become apart of me.

Theseus raised his hand to me as he turned to leave.

"Thank you, my Princess." He said. Penelope was thrown to the ground and as the soldiers departed she crawled to my side and hugged me.

I was naked beneath her and so she held me all the tighter. She kissed my rosy face and cried into my breast.

"I am so sorry," she whispered to me, "So sorry." We hugged each other for what seemed like hours until I pulled away to put on my dress. I remember looking at the white, knowing that forever more it shall be stained like the women I see in the streets. What will they think when they see me in my colours? What shame I will bring!

Penelope and I walked back to the palace and we knocked on the doors. The wicked soldiers had not even entered to city which was surrounded with a sandy wall. They had purely come for me, and now that Theseus had me and had had me, I was with him and so they left.

The gates opened for the two princesses and we walked into the city and up to the palace.

A burning pain between my thighs prevented me for a quickening my pace, and instead we walked slowly. Such an event would make me cry for nights, and now at the age of twenty nine I have not forgotten it. It was when my summery childhood ended, and my cold teenage years began, for they could not get much worse.


	3. Penelope and Odysseus

I remember looking out of the window when I was sixteen, only to see king Odysseus of Ithaca riding up to us with his companions. I smiled to myself as I plaited the back of my golden hair. He was very welcome around here as he was a friend of my father's. My real father of course is Mighty Zeus and my mother Leda, but when she seduced by the God she bore me and raised me with her royal husband Tyndareüs.

By this age I had had many lovers, many of which were powerful and respectable men, however none of then really took my fancy. I did indeed have many suitors then and I knew soon I would be forced to marry one. I didn't want to have to make that decision because I knew some of the men would hurt, beat or even kill each other for the right of me.

I ran from my chamber to meet Odysseus. He was a very attractive man and a perfect age for me. Twenty two next summer. But he is not a man that I would marry; I knew that my cousin Penelope liked him.

Penelope was flirtier than I could have ever imagined. When she was ten I assumed that she would never like a man, but she has had more lovers than me. Truly, I have had more invitations but don't take as many as Penelope. She never likes being alone, instead she runs in the fields with many men and surely she loved most of them. I say she loved them, but she never wanted to marry any. I was positive that Penelope would never marry.

"Odysseus!" I cried as I ran down the green leaf entwined steps. My blue dress billowed out behind me as I hugged him. he held me at arms length.

"You have grown!" he said to me. "Is she yet married Tyndareüs?" My father shook his head and Odysseus laughed.

"She shall be soon. No man can resist such beauty." He said as he looked into my eyes. I giggled foolishly as he turned away and began to engage in conversation with my father. I walked back to my chamber, smiling.

Dinner that night was pleasant as we were in the company of Odysseus. I remember my father turning to me.

"Helen," he said. "Do you wish to marry?" The question surprised me but I thought about it.

"There are some men who I like, yes. But whether I wish to marry them or not I do not know. Besides, father, if I were to choose the others would go mad with anger. Anger of rejection, jealousy."

My father and Odysseus nodded. The Ithacan King looked up.

"My lord, I suggest that we make each suitor take an oath, that he should not harm another man, or indeed Helen if he is not chosen." My father smiled.

"Yes, that is a good idea. What say you Helen?" I thought about it. Marriage seemed like an enjoyable idea to me as I had many lovely men willing to marry me.

"Agreed." I said.

"Have you anyone in mind my daughter?" Tyndareüs asked me.

I remembered a sweet man who had once loved me on the riverbank. He covered me in flowers, jewels and riches. But above all this he showered me in love. He was also a respectable man, the brother of Agamemnon of Mycenae Son of Atreus.

"Menelaus of Mycenae." I replied.

So my suitors made an oath, and I told then whom I wished to marry. Some grunted, some screamed when they found out that it was not them but flame haired Menelaus was delighted. He ran from the crowd and he picked me up and twirled me around and around. He smile shone and his face was so bright that it made me thrilled. I hugged him back, just as pleased as he was that we were to be married. Then he leaned forward and he kissed me, deep and passionate. It was the best kiss I have ever received because I knew that he really loved me. He knew that I also loved him because I chose him from hundreds of men. He knew that out of all of them I enjoyed his company most.

He held my hand and told me that he would make me the happiest woman alive, because I had already made him the happiest man. We agreed to get married as soon as possible, and so a date was set for one weeks time. We couldn't wait.

During the week that we waited Odysseus decided to stay for our wedding. But then he and Penelope met. She was a brunette of sixteen and she was a stunning girl. The pair fell instantly in love.

But Odysseus that he could never ask for her hand in marriage because he would also have to ask her loving father, Icarius, the king's brother. Icarius loved Penelope even more than my father (his brother) Tyndareüs loved me, and he would never let Odysseus take Penelope to Ithaca with him.

But my father, Tyndareüs remembered how Odysseus helped him to protect us from many powerful Princes who wanted to be my suitors, by making then swear and oath, and so he decided to help Odysseus.

He knew that Odysseus was a fantastic runner. He was known for how fast he was, and so using this information, Tyndareüs found out a way for his brother to let Penelope marry him.

He told Icarius that Penelope needed to be married soon, and she had no preference, so Icarius should say that the suitor to win a race should win her hand. That way Penelope would have a worthy husband. Icarius agreed, not realising that he needed to specify that only Spartans were allowed to enter so that Penelope would not be taken away.

So the contest was held and Penelope was very anxious. She prayed that Odysseus would win, and surely enough, he did!

Penelope was delighted and she hugged him when he won. Icarius walked up to his daughters husband to be and he suddenly gasped.

"Odysseus!" He cried. "What are you doing? You cannot marry my daughter. You live in Ithaca and I have already said no!"

Icarius decided that his daughter would go to the runner up, but Odysseus persisted.

"You said that the winner of this race would win your daughter! You didn't say where they needed to come from and so therefore if you don't let me and Penelope be married then you are breaking your word and the Gods will punish you!" Icarius knew that Odysseus was right and he was devastated. However, he told Penelope that she could marry Odysseus, so long as she stayed in Sparta. Penelope foolishly agreed but knew she would go back on her word.

Odysseus and Penelope agreed to be married on the same day as me and Menelaus. It was going to be a very special day as we all loved each other.

Not only that, but Menelaus was going to be the new king of Sparta!


	4. Marriage

Sunrise came early the day before I was married. I was so excited, even if my husband was nearly twice my age. His heart was worth my weight in gold, for truly, he was a man of honour, pride, but most of all love.

My eyes opened. I couldn't wait till the day where I would no longer be waking up in my own room. Instead Menelaus and I will share a room, possibly the biggest one in the house. Infact definatly the biggest one in the house, I would be Queen after all! Father has resigned the throne and seeing as I am the only child he has that is going to be married I will take over. Of course there is my sister Clytemnestra, but she moved to Mycenae to marry Agamemnon, and to rule there.

I am glad that because Menelaus is male he will have more responsibility than me, for I no little about such matters. But I know that Menelaus, being the darling that he is, will share important facts with me. We shall have guests over everyday and we will serve them succulent meats and sweet fruits, and when they depart we will bestow on them their weight in jewels, for truly we will be very wealthy. One day all of Greece will say, "The richest, most respectable city every looked upon by the mighty Gods is Sparta, ruled by Menelaus and his fair wife." Ah, yes.

Menelaus is even more excited than me. Whenever we meet, in the gardens, in the town, he runs to me and kisses my rosy cheeks. He is very proud of his fair wife.

I had been saving myself for him. I would not let him touch me like that until we were married, and then we could have all the fun we wanted. Sometimes we almost got carried away but he, being such a sweetheart, always pulled away when I was too lost in ecstasy.

Penelope and Odysseus were just as excited. We were two happy couples made! Being only sixteen at the time I was desperate to learn what married life was like, and I was very lucky to be accompanied by my cousin and best friend.

Then the big day came, and I was woken up by my maids just like any other day. The only difference was the thrill of anxiety in my chest. It was like I was flying. I put on the nicest gown that Sparta could provide and met my cousin in the hallway.

"You look beautiful," I said to her as we went down stairs.

"As do you," she replied. I was glad that she had not plastered herself in make-up that day, like she so often did when she met men. She glowed with natural beauty that day.

Every head turned when we entered the hall. I doubt that the people would look any more shocked if it had been Aphrodite's presence that startled them. Then, as the crowds parted I saw my husband and tears sprung to my eyes. Like I was an angel descending from heaven he stared at me. Then, when the music was played I walked towards him. That was the perfect wedding day. I could not have wished for a more beautifully lit hall, are bigger bundle of guests or a nicer husband. That is what I thought on the day.

We had only been man and wife three seconds when Menelaus whispered to me.

"You have made me the happiest man alive Helen. You bring out the best in an old prince." He smiled at me and through my tears I replied.

"You are a King now. An old king," I laughed as I kissed him.

Our wedding night was blissful. It was passionate and soft, nothing like the animal sex I had prepared myself for. I felt like the luckiest women in the world laying there in his arms, knowing that I had pleased him with my innocence. I was so glad I had waited, unlike Penelope who would now be giving Odysseus what he already knew. My eyes closed and thus was the end of the happiest day of my life. It was depressing that I could never experience it again, but I would be spending the rest of my life with Menelaus, and that thought kept away the nightmares.


	5. Never ending night

I didn't need to speak to Penelope that next day. We just saw each other in the hall where our bedrooms lay opposite. We crept out quietly at the shocking time of noon, not very becoming, only to see the other one doing the same.

I saw her little face, her flushed cheeks and her button nose. And then laughed; infact I think she laughed first. Well it doesn't matter, we both ended up in hysterics, giggling insanely at our equal happiness.

My new husband lay asleep in our room, Penelope's doing the very same.

We went downstairs for some breakfast which our maids happily served for us.

"What was it like?" Penelope asked me as she nibbled cutely on a plum. I felt myself instantly blush, memories of the heaven I went to last night flooding back.

"It was…amazing." I said, curling my finger modesty around my golden locks. Penelope, a younger expert, giggled.

"Did it hurt? I remember my first time hurting."

I took a deep breath and took a sip of my honey and pomegranate juice.

"Penelope…" I said quietly, trying to silence her,

"Oh dear. Was it that bad?"

I threw my cup down, the content spilling over the wooden table and dripping onto the floor. Rising to my feet I began to shout.

"Why do you have to ruin everything?" I shouted. The maids, hearing our dispute, turned modestly away trying to avoid hearing our argument. Penelope pushed herself up against the back of the chair.

"I…I don't understand." She stammered. I coughed.

"How could you forget?" I said, my anger turning to bitter tears as I sat down again. Penelope ran to me and put her arm around my shoulders.

"What…what's wrong Helen?" She said, rubbing my arms in comfort.

"Oh Penelope. That wasn't…it wasn't my first time." I said it so quietly that she had to lean right forward to hear. When she did catch my words I felt her shake.

"Oh Helen! I am so sorry. I did completely forget! I am sorry. This must be awful for you!"

I wiped my eyes and shook my head.

"No, it's not awful. Menelaus was nothing like Theseus. Sometimes I don't even believe that what Theseus did to me was sex at all. It is too dissimilar to what Menelaus did. I've been kidding myself that Menelaus was…the first. But I know he wasn't." I started to cry again as I buried my face in my hands.

"Oh...No no no." cooed Penelope. "Menelaus _was_ your first time; your first proper time. Think of it like that." I nodded, trying to forget.

Suddenly we were both interrupted by a low, husky voice.

"Odysseus!" I said smiling.

"Have you been crying Helen?" he asked.

"Um…no…..no I haven't." I muttered.

"Then for goodness sake, apply your make up better - borrow some of Penelope's. She always looks like an angel." Penelope and Odysseus embraced and locked lips. I sighed and mooched away to find my husband.

"Excuse me?" I said as I grabbed a maid's arm. She stopped to look at me.

"Yes Miss?" I giggled.

"Mrs!" I corrected. She smiled at me.

"Of course."

"Could you please tell me where I can find Menelaus?"

"Oh um…yes. I believe he is still in bed Mrs."

"Ah…I see." I nodded and ran off down the hall to my bedroom.

I opened the door. Menelaus was spread out on the bed.

I scrambled onto the bed along side him and shook him gently.

"What a wonderful image to wake up to." He said. I smiled and kissed him. But neither of us moved away, and he rolled on top of me and kissed my nose.

And then he reminded me of the night before.


End file.
